Accidents and Disasters

Weather Week: Heat, Rain, Possible Severe Weather But Probably No Tornadoes

It's tough not to think about weather after the devastating tornadoes that hit Oklahoma the last two days. The probably F-5 tornado that struck Moore just south of Oklahoma City could be one of the largest on record, an incredible two miles wide at its peak. Tornadoes are certainly nature's most ins ... More >>

The Final Countdown: Galveston County Puts Up Massive Countdown Clocks/Billboards for Hurricane Season

3...2...1...HUNKER! Along the Gulf Coast, most of us are keenly aware of the approach of hurricane season each year. Even if we don't know the exact date it starts (June 1), we know that the advance of summer and hotter temperatures means the tropics are about to get busy. Some people really prepare ... More >>

HISD Bus Crash Sends Student To Hospital

A Houston school district bus was involved in what officials are calling a "major accident" this morning, sending one student to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Three students were on the bus, headed to Scarborough High, when the accident occurred at Beechnut and Braeburn Valley ab ... More >>

Hurricane Season is Over for Houston!! (According To Our Bold Prediction); Cooler Weather On the Way, God's In His Heaven, Etc., Etc.

Yeah, you heard me. It might sound like a bold prediction, but it's actually safer than you think. I've often told my friends that my favorite day of the year is October 1. The reason for this is that football season has started, basketball training camp is about to open, the holidays are on the wa ... More >>

Hey, Look, It's Summer! Houston's Normal Summer Weather Has Finally Arrived

Stephen Colbert described Houston weather as a combination of the heat of Texas and the humidity of New Orleans. That's actually not far off in the summer. We are a fairly tropical climate. For the past couple weeks, however, it's felt more like a jungle during monsoon season. Now that Mother Nature ... More >>

UPDATED: Flash Flooding Will Be a Problem Through Early Afternoon

UPDATE 8:30 a.m. - More than 14,000 residents are without power thanks to the storms rolling through. A line of storms is moving very slowly through the entire area and will continue to be a problem through lunch. Original Post:The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Watch yesterday that ... More >>

Houston: Only Two U.S. Cities Have More Dangerous Drivers

As you head out for your commute, keep this cheery thought in mind: You are about to hand your life over to some of the most dangerous people around: other Houstonian drivers. Space City drivers are the third-most dangerous in the nation, according to another one of those pseudoscientific studies b ... More >>

Update: Rough Weather, Tornados Rolling Through Houston, Affecting Airports

As has been mentioned by weather forecasters in recent days, some pretty rough weather is passing through Houston this morning as part of a cold front. The storms are spanning high winds, torrential rain (some areas could receive up to five inches), flash flooding and potential tornadoes. According ... More >>

Drought Madness: Houston, You Want a Hurricane. Overwhelmingly

​It's clear the Drought of '11 has had some effect on the minds of Texans: They are actively in favor of getting hit with a tropical storm or hurricane if it will help bring about the end of the über-dry spell. Does everyone forget Ike or Allison? We asked readers if they would take a tropi ... More >>

Drought vs. Tropical Storm: Whose Side Are You On? Take Our Poll

Careful what you wish for.​There's a 70 percent chance a tropical storm will develop in the Gulf in Mexico's Bay of Campeche. Computer models show a chance it could drift northward, strengthening and possibly becoming a large hurricane aimed at New Orleans or points east. It won't come to Te ... More >>

Why It's So Hot, When It Might End and Why We Should Count Our Blessings

High pressure is like the Heat Miser but not claymation.​Polite elevator conversation usually includes something like, "How about that weather, huh?" Lately, that conversation might be more along the lines of, "Holy shit, I went outside and thought I was going to die!" Normally, summers in Hou ... More >>

Tropical Storm Don: Will Houston See Any Effects?

Is that a cone of uncertainty in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?​As we thought, the forecast models, using the data from the National Hurricane Center reconnaissance aircraft came into fairly good agreement last night on the track of Tropical Storm Don and, unfortunately, it d ... More >>

Wildfires in Spring Cause Evacuations

Spring residents, watch out.​The Houston area has been mostly spared the wildfires that have been hitting other parts of Texas, but an abnormally large grass fire is causing problems this afternoon in Spring. The blaze is near FM 1960 and the Hardy Toll Road, which should also make the aftern ... More >>

This Hurricane Season, Stock Up the Right Way

Hey, Hurricane Ike Bear; quit dicking around and go buy some bottled water.​Weather agencies across the nation are predicting a much busier hurricane season this year than usual. NOAA predicts up to 10 hurricanes between now and November, with three to six of those being major hurricanes. Rem ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Remembering Hurricanes Alicia and Claudette

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Unidentified Male, 30-35, Bayou Body Count No. 34

Man killed in fatal traffic accident.​HPD is investigating a fatal traffic accident at 4400 South MacGregor Way around 7:25 p.m. Friday, March 18. The victim, a 30 to 35-year-old male, is currently unidentified. According to the incident report, the victim was driving a tan Jeep Wrangler east ... More >>

Great Gulf Dinner: What Oil Spill?

​You may or may not have heard about this little thing that happened recently in the Gulf of Mexico. Some assholes were drilling for oil without following safety precautions and -- oops! -- nearly wrecked an enormous portion of the ocean for generations to come. Dicks. The good news is that t ... More >>

10 by 10

Local playwrights show off their short works

10 by 10

Local playwrights show off their short works

BP Oil Spill: Tunes For Turtles This Weekend

Onward through the oil​Since the BP oil spill began 8,427 days ago, we've heard about how the catastrophe has endangered the welfare of birds, fishermen, tourist shops, and at least one British dickhead CEO, but there hasn't been much said about our society's most vulnerable -- Gulf Coas ... More >>

Tar Balls In Galveston: What's New?

Searching "tar balls," "Galveston" and "not uncommon" yields results​The tar balls in Galveston have gotten widespread attention, even though their number and effect is laughably small compared to other states and even though they probably traveled here by boat and not ocean currents, meaning more ... More >>

Preacher Joseph Herrin: Gulf Oil Spill The Fault Of All Us Abortion-Loving Houstonians

I'm looking at YOU, Houston​BREAKING -- A new, undeniably correct theory on why there's a huge oil spill has just been announced. There's a spill, it seems, because God hates how we Houstonians just love abortion. Oh, and Joel Osteen's to blame, too.The theory is proposed by a preacher (and, we as ... More >>

Hurricanes: Rice Says Ike Was Nothing

Just a fresh seabreeze compared to what could have been​Just in time for hurricane season, a group created in the wake of Ike has issued a report that should be entitled "The Bejesus, And Scaring It Out Of You."Remember Ike and how much that sucked? Destruction in Galveston, no electricity in Hous ... More >>

Local Lawyers Unimpressed With Transocean's Bid To Limit Its Oil-Spill Exposure

Photo courtesy US Coast GuardPLEASE let the oil-spill litigation be heard here, Houston hotel owners pray​Transocean, the Houston company that owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig that is currently gushing huge amount of oil into the Gulf, is looking to limit the amount of damages they may ... More >>

Fight The Oil Spill By Giving Your Dog A Haircut

Blow-drying after the cut is optional.​Until today, Hair Balls thought pet hair clippings were only good for making you sneeze, but apparently the hair is incredibly absorbent, which could come in handy in the case of, say, a gigantic freakin' oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Pet Paradise, a ... More >>

The Gulf Oil Spill and the Seafood Industry

scmtngirl​With the Gulf oil spill now a full-on environmental disaster, seafood lovers are worried. Commercial and recreational fishing has been restricted in certain areas of the Gulf, and seafood supplier Louisiana Foods's Jim Gossen says he's already seen some increase in prices for Gulf oy ... More >>

The Gulf Oil Spill and the Seafood Industry

scmtngirl​With the Gulf oil spill now a full-on environmental disaster, seafood lovers are worried. Commercial and recreational fishing has been restricted in certain areas of the Gulf, and seafood supplier Louisiana Foods's Jim Gossen says he's already seen some increase in prices for Gulf oyster ... More >>

Anti-Hurricane Consortium To Hold First Meeting...Just in Time for Hurricane Season

​A mere 19 months after Hurricane Ike treated the upper Texas coast like its musical namesake used to treat Tina, the Gulf Coast Community Protection and Recovery District is holding their first planning session: Galveston County is joined by Harris, Brazoria, Chambers, Jefferson and Orange c ... More >>

"Flotsam and Jetsam: Artists Respond to Hurricane Ike"

Web exclusive

If Who's On First, What's On Second: A Post-Ike Diary Documenting One Family's Attempt To Get Past First Base With The Houston Housing Authority

​Ike's anniversary is coming up, an event which will be well-covered locally. We're doing out part with the September 10 issue; until then we'll be posting some Ike-related items to whet the appetite.In the 1950s the famous comedy team of Abbott and Costello developed what is probably their most ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: Steel Magnolias, The Story of Burford, Category 5, The Tamarie Cooper Show: Journey to the Center of My Brain (in 3-D)

Capsule Stage Reviews: Steel Magnolias, The Story of Burford, Category 5, The Tamarie Cooper Show: Journey to the Center of My Brain (in 3-D)

Capsule Stage Reviews: Reckless, Steel Magnolias, The Story of Burford, Category 5, The Wiz

Capsule Stage Reviews: Reckless, The Story of Burford, Category 5, The Wiz

Capsule Stage Reviews: Beauty Queen of Leenane, Complete Works of William Shakespeare...Abridged, The Story of Burford, Category 5

Sondheim, Con Men and Certain Death

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

Can't Get It Out of My Head: "New Madrid"

Wilco, "New Madrid," live at the Fox Theater, Boulder, Colorado, May 1995 Rocks Off is never really not on an Uncle Tupelo kick, but it sure came flooding back after he heard "New Madrid" on Fred Imus' Saturday-morning Trailer Park Bash satellite-radio show last weekend. Even among such fut ... More >>

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Ike

Update on "Thank You, Houston" Event

Houston Has a New Theme Song

Bayousphere

Can't Anyone Just Predict "Slightly Breezy And Seasonably Cool"?

Positive Pub For Mayor White

"Certain Death" Doesn't Bar Commercials

The Sound of Ike

Neil Frank & Gene Norman -- The Odd Couple

Time Bomb Defused

Life in a Hurricane

The New Orleans sound of The Morning 40 Federation

Run Over by Metro

The city's bus company shows little inclination to pay up or change its ways, even after it smacks into people like its own employee Clarence Santee Jr.

La Mordita

Check cashers and furniture rental companies take a big chunk out of post-hurricane FEMA checks